Depending on your circumstances, the Hart Law Firm offers hourly and
flat fee billing for its collaborative clients.
Criminal, bankruptcy, and many estate planning lawyers have been using
flat fee billing for years.
Not exact matches
Pricing
for all of the Internet Dating Business Services is a
flat service
fee and is
billed as a whole on a monthly bases.
It's not uncommon
for debit card
fees for rent payments to be a
flat dollar amount, as opposed to a percentage of the total
bill.
For those not best suited to a
flat AUM
fee, we also have the option to
bill a set monthly retainer
fee.
With Plastiq, you can pay nearly any
bill, including small businesses or individuals, with a Visa, MasterCard or AMEX credit card
for a
flat 2.5 %
fee.
First, the tax preparer will probably get either a
flat fee for processing your return, or will
bill you hourly depending on your setup.
Solar energy production is chunked into «blocks»,
for which subscribers pay a
flat monthly
fee while receiving a set number of solar credits on their
bill.
One critical caveat: I am not suggesting that timekeepers should stop recording hours, because that information is invaluable
for budgeting and pricing, including determining
billing rates and alternative
fees like
flat fees.
At the end of the day, Lamb sees two reasons
for Main Street attorneys to consider
flat fee or other alternative
billing methods.
For many years, the profession has been talking about alternative
billing schemes such as
flat fees, unbundled legal services, and pay - what - it's - worth options.
This means being open to alternative
billing models such as fixed,
flat, capped or blended
fees for services, in order to ease potential cash constrains that you're your client may be temporarily experiencing.
I thought
flat fees would be better
for me because I wouldn't have to keep track of my time.1 And I was certain it would be better
for my clients because they would know what to expect up front and they wouldn't receive any unexpected
bills.
Flat fee billing is great
for some situations and terrible in others.
Flat -
fee billing would be a great leap forward
for access to justice in litigated personal plight matters such as family law.
Clients need new approaches to
fees, staffing and
billing — including a shift from hourly to
flat rates, he said, but when they've reached out to the largest Am Law firms
for solutions, they are told «We're not sure we know how to do that.
The process of ending a marriage is usually pretty consistent, making many divorce and custody cases well suited
for flat -
fee billing.
In addition to retaining individual attorneys in different firms to perform specific legal work, it is commonplace
for business and corporate clients to negotiate
fees, seek volume discounts, and,
for certain types of matters, propose
flat fees and contingency / risk forms of
billing.
Smart lawyers include all that written - off time on their
bills; the clients can see that they are paying
for value (a common refrain by
flat fee advocates), not to line the lawyer's pockets.
Further, given the Respondents» evidence that they pay a
flat - rate monthly
fee, there is a need to provide evidence of how these charges were calculated
for this specific matter while ensuring that the amounts claimed in the
Bill of Costs are a reflection of the actual disbursements.
What is your experience with
flat fees — and what advice would you have
for those who seek to implement an alternative
billing approach?
For many lawyers,
flat -
fee billing offers an attractive alternative to the tyranny of the billable hour.
Incidentally, if you are looking
for additional guidance on
flat fees and alternative
billing, perhaps one of the best authorities is Allison Shields of Legalease Blogs, who has written extensively about this topic.
Topics may include,
for example, how to create a business plan, the key elements of an engagement letter, how to choose your niche, and how to decide between different
billing arrangements such as contingency
fees, hourly rates or
flat fees.
Did you know Bill4Time also offers
flat -
fee billing for your projects and time?
On litigation I haven't done as much work in terms of trying to get either
flat fee, or to not exceed numbers
for different portions of litigation, but certainly I think that's something I might be interested in, if I was going out to look
for a new firm, rather... Rely on litigation context is understanding how a firm
bills and how an individual attorney
bills.
I've always charged
flat fees for criminal defense files, while civil cases were
billed either hourly or on a contingency
fee basis.
This may not work
for every practice area, but most lawyers can benefit from adding
flat fees to their
billing toolboxes.
Our firm handles uncontested divorces
for a
flat fee, so there's no surprise
bill!
And,
for some reason, I have a very difficult time conceptualizing the idea of
billing a civil defense file — one that would normally be
billed hourly — on a
flat fee basis, even though it seems perfectly ok
for a criminal file.
Niki — I too have practiced both criminal defense and civil litigation, and, like you,
billed flat fee for one, and hourly (or contingent)
for the other.
The
billing component works well
for hourly and
flat -
fee billing.
Even if you ditch the billable hour, you still have to
bill your clients
for your work (either through
flat fees or some other hybrid arrangement).
Many clients on a budget fear the potential bloat of hourly
billing, preferring instead a
flat fee for services.
Attorneys and paralegals do most of the actual legal work,
billing by the hour or
for a
flat fee.
We provide
for a
flat rate
fee per month a full suite of accounting services from after - the - fact cash basis services to full service payroll,
bill pay, receivable and management reporting
for law firms.
There is also a movement toward value
billing in certain practice areas, which is kind of a hybrid between
flat fee and hourly
billing where the client pays a
flat fee for each piece of the representation.»
Schmidt further advised that when considering between
flat fee billing and the billable hour that you should consider your practice area: «Flat fees are common for transactional work and criminal defense, while hourly is still popular for most litigat
flat fee billing and the billable hour that you should consider your practice area: «
Flat fees are common for transactional work and criminal defense, while hourly is still popular for most litigat
Flat fees are common
for transactional work and criminal defense, while hourly is still popular
for most litigation.
Sometimes lawyers will instead
bill on a
flat fee basis
for a...
For these projects specifically,
flat fee billing was an obvious choice.
We were looking
for billing software that delivered advanced
billing functionality, namely
flat fee billing, to meet our clients» requirements.
Although legal time - and -
billing software is designed primarily
for hourly
billing, it can also be useful in
flat -
fee billing situations.
When you track your time based on matter type using time - and -
billing software, you can identify tasks that would make good candidates
for a
flat -
fee service.
For years, research has shown that firms are increasingly feeling pressured to reduce rates and / or offer
flat fee billing.
In my own mediation practice, I
billed on an hourly basis
for the actual mediation sessions (which, in my opinion, could not and should not be fairly estimated in advance — except to give a likely range), but used a
flat fee for drafting the resultant memorandum of understanding.
To this end, The Bartlett Jones Law Firm provides innovative
billing options, including
flat -
fee billing for predictable, value - based appellate representation; blended contingency /
flat -
fee representation where appropriate; and affordable hourly rates when required.
You can
bill time or
flat fees, but
for more exotic
billing structures, you will have to get creative.
A number of forward - thinking lawyers are setting up
flat -
fee billing for litigation - based practice areas.
My guess is that a reasonable price on a
flat fee project is much easier
for the client to gauge than hourly
billing.
But with the rise of the entrepreneur lawyer, legal technology and a more sophisticated legal consumer,
flat fees may become the new normal
for legal
billing in the near future.